The November Man

It's good to see Pierce Brosnan shooting dumb henchmen again and driving through narrow European streets at unsafe speeds. He retired from the James Bond series while still in his 40s, and there's still a lot of charismatic spy left in him at 60.

Unfortunately, "The November Man" isn't worthy of Brosnan's audience-friendly legacy. Often frustrating and at times incomprehensible, the Bourne/Bond clone keeps the pulse racing but ultimately fails to satisfy.

A reported 10 years in the making, the film looks as if it went through a dozen rewrites, and no one bothered to check to ensure the newer drafts continued to make sense. Brosnan's Peter Devereaux shifts his motivations and morality so much, he appears to turn into a different character every time a gun is in his hands. How come he's mad at that guy? Weren't they friends before? Why did he just cut that nice girl's femoral artery?!?

"The November Man" is based on the seventh book in author Bill Granger's series, and it can be maddeningly predictable. Let's count the cliches just in the set up:

When a top CIA agent's protection duty ends in tragedy, (1) he retires to a seaside chateau in Europe (2). But an unknown assassin killing other agents brings him back in the game (3, 4) to save an old flame (5) and work with his troubled protegee (6) to unravel a mystery with ties to the Cold War, a kinky Russian general and Chechen refugees (7, 8, 9, 10).

Brosnan never fit in as a character actor. When he showed up in "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "Mamma Mia!" it was like he stumbled onto the set to sign a few autographs, before heading off to another case involving megalomanic villains and international intrigue. Having Pierce Brosnan in roles like this eliminates most of the need for exposition. The actor came out of the womb looking charming and mysterious and capable.

Brosnan does his best to sell each betrayal and allegiance shift, and his presence makes even the dumb parts watchable. But too much is left unexplained, and each plot reveal seems to beg an additional three questions. Equally frustrating: Director Roger Donaldson and the scriptwriters don't seem to know what to do with Brosnan as a romantic lead. "The November Man" pairs the director of "Cocktail" with the star of "Remington Steele" and four Bond films. That should have been a guarantee for at least two steamy lovemaking scenes.

The shifting alliances on the CIA side are particularly confusing, and the technology seems weirdly dated. (The flip-phone industry is going to be very excited about "The November Man." For reasons never adequately explained, most of the characters are using phones from 2007.)

As the pace quickens in the final third of the film, the last drops of common sense bleed from the script. The bad guy, a Russian politician who we're told has the ability to change the world, doesn't act smart enough to change a coffee filter. Depending on the needs of the script, Devereaux's allies are alternately helpless or resourceful, clueless or cunning. Olga Kurylenko, a Bond girl in the early Daniel Craig era, is particularly underused as a kind refugee aid worker who may or may not be developing a romantic link with the spy.

Throughout it all, Brosnan gives his best effort. The R rating allows the actor to show a darker side, suggesting he might make a decent bad guy someday soon. (His role in "The Matador," an excellent dark comedy from 2005, comes close.)

Or moviegoers can just pretend he's the bad guy in this movie. The filmmakers never make that point completely clear.